FORWARD TWP — Investigators have not ruled out that a head-on crash Wednesday night that killed two people, one a mother of three, was deliberate.

“Based on the totality of the circumstances and the evidence involved, we’re looking at this as an intentional act or a DUI fatality,” state police Lt. Eric Hermick said this morning.

Hours after the wreck on Route 68 near Buhl Road in Forward Township, police were still trying to learn what happened and why. The crash scene left troopers and rescuers shaken.

“It was a very violent head-on collision,” said Chief Mark Adomaitis of the Evans City Volunteer Fire Department.

“Horrific,” Hermick added.

Killed in the crash were Hannah D. Swigart, 36, of Butler and Michael H. Reid, 38, formerly of Butler Township. They died instantly in the wreck at the bottom of Buhl Hill, authorities said.

A Butler County deputy coroner pronounced both dead at the scene.

Police said Reid was a repeat drunken driver with a history of mental health issues and was to blame. Earlier that night he had driven to his ex-girlfriend’s home in Butler Township and possibly tried to break in, investigators said.

“He was highly intoxicated,” Hermick said of Reid.

The woman who lives there had a protection from abuse order against him, and she called 911 at 11:07 p.m. Butler Township police, in turn, were notified.

Reid vandalized both the house and a vehicle there, said Butler Township Police Chief John Hays.

But before police got to the house, he sped away in a blue Dodge Neon.

A short time later he called his ex-girlfriend on his cell phone. Township officers were at the home and got on the woman’s phone.

“He basically told us he was not going to talk to us,” Hays said.

But before he ended the call, he left an ominous message.

“He told police that he’d be dead by the morning,” Hermick said.

Police said Hays had a rather lengthy history with Reid, including animal nuisance calls and disorderly conducts.

The most recent call was Jan. 20, when police were called to assist other social agencies after Reid threatened suicide, Hays said.

After Reid drove away from his former girlfriend’s home, authorities said, he eventually made it to Route 68, traveling west.

Two other motorists, also traveling west on Route 68, later told police that a speeding blue Neon passed them around or a little after 11 p.m.

Headed in the opposite direction on the same road was Swigart, a mother of three children, ages 12, 8 and 1. She apparently was returning home from work at a United Parcel Service facility, driving a Jeep Cherokee.

Butler Township police at some point sent out a be-on-the-lookout for the man driving a Neon.

“But about the time we got that,” Hermick said, “our guys were already on their way to a call for a head-on (on Route 68).”

No one apparently saw the crash. Some neighbors reportedly heard it, even as they slept.

A 16-year-old girl riding in a vehicle that came upon the wreckage called 911 at 11:18 p.m., and notified authorities.

“This was one of the most violent accidents we’ve had in a long time,” Adomaitis said.

“The impact was so tremendous,” Hermick said, “that a Dodge Neon flipped a Jeep and put it on top of a guardrail.”

Rescue crews found the car was into the guardrail and the Jeep in a more precarious position.

The Jeep was on the guardrail, hanging over,” Adomaitis said. The vehicle was teetering and risked plunging down a steep embankment.

“Right away,” Adomaitis said,” we had to chain (the Jeep) onto the guardrail to get it stabilized.”

Rescuers said that as soon as they got there it was apparent that both drivers were dead.

State police forensic services investigators took charge of the investigation.

When police were finished, firefighters moved in to extricate the drivers from their vehicles. The doors and side posts to both vehicles had to be cut off to get to the victims.

The Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Department assisted at the scene.

The road was slightly wet from the rain, authorities said, but the evidence at the scene suggested this was not an innocent accident, clearly caused by Reid.

“There was no braking, no yaw marks, no counter steering,” Hermick said.

He said that police plan to obtain a search warrant for the car’s black box, also called the vehicle event data recorder.

The black box, found in almost every car with air bags, contains data important in police investigations, including speed and driver inattention, which can be determined to a large degree by when a driver let off the accelerator and applied the brakes, or not.

Hermick said police also would likely get a search warrant to scour Reid’s cell phone.

The wreck, meanwhile, closed Route 68 for nearly six hours. The busy road reopened just before 6 a.m., in time for the morning rush hour.